CS170: Discrete Methods in Computer Science (Spring 2025)

Basic information

Lectures: MW 12:30-1:50pm in MRF 340, and MW 3:30-4:50 in THH 201
Discussion Sections: Fridays 8:00 - 9:50 (GFS 106), 10:00 - 11:50 (SLH 102), 12:00 - 1:50 (THH 202), 2:00 - 3:50 (SGM 101)
Instructor: Shaddin Dughmi
- Email: shaddin@usc
- Office Hours: MW 5:15-6:15 in GCS LL2
TAs: Sid Devic (devic@usc, head TA), Mehrnoosh Feijani (mehrnoom@usc, Grading Czar), Chandra Mukherjee (cmukherj@usc, Solutions Czar), Hanchen Xie (hanchenx@usc), Guangxu Yang(guangxuy@usc), Alan Grayson York (agyork, Piazza Czar)
- Office Hours and Location: See Piazza
- Course Homepage: viterbi-web.usc.edu/~shaddin/teaching/cs170sp25
Announcements
- April 16: Homework 5 is up, due Friday May 2 at 11:59pm.
- March 24: Homework 4 is up, due Friday April 11 at Noon.
- March 4: Recall that the midterm is on Wednesday, March 5th, from 7:00pm-8:50pm in THH 301. Students with OSAS accommodations received instructions separately. For more details on the logistics of the midterm, consult Piazza.
- Feb 23: Homework 3 is up. It will be due on March 14, just before Spring break.
- Feb 17: The due date of Homework 2 has been postponed, to Monday Feb 24 at Noon.
- Feb 5: Homework 2 is up, due in two weeks at Noon.
- Jan 27: Midterm time and location are confirmed: March 5, 7:00pm-8:50pm, in THH 301.
- Jan 18: Update regarding homework submissions: We decided we will use Gradescope. Stay tuned for instructions. You can hand-write or type up your homework, as you see fit.
- Jan 18: There is a Piazza for the class, which we will use for discussions. You should have been added already, but if not then you can sign up here.
- Jan 15: Homework 1 deadline has been slightly extended, to Monday Feb 3.
- Jan 15: There will be no discussion section on Friday, as there is not much to discuss yet. Discussion sections, and office hours, will commence next week.
- Jan 15: Homework 1 is up, due in two weeks.
- Jan 14: Course Website is up!

Schedule

This schedule is tentative and subject to change throughout the semester.

Introduction (Chapter 1, Skim Chapter 2)
Propositional Logic (Chapters 9 and 10)
Proofs: Intro and Induction (Chapters 2-4)
Runtime analysis, Sorting, and Recursion (Chapter 21)
- Additional reference: Additional notes on sorting from David Kempe's CSCI104. Chapter 17
Sets, functions, and friends (Chapters 5-6)
Advanced induction (Chapter 8)
First-Order Logic (Chapters 9-12)
Basics of Graph Theory (Chapters 13,14,16,17,18)
- Additional reference: Additional notes on Graphs and Graph Search from David Kempe's CSCI104. Portions of Chapters 20,21, and 23.
Graph Algorithms
- Whiteboards: 1, 2.

Course Description

This course covers the mathematical topics that are most important for computer science. We will be concerned with both discrete mathematics and the basics of logical reasoning (as encapsulated by proofs). Discrete mathematics, unlike continuous mathematics topics such as calculus, is concerned with disconnected, non-smooth objects such as booleans, integers, graphs, trees, etc. This is the sort of mathematics that is most relevant to computers and to algorithms. A proof is an airtight argument which starts with a set of assumptions or facts (known as axioms or premises), applies self-evident rules of logic in a clear and stepwise manner, all to establish the truth of a precise mathematical or logical statement.

Requirements and Grading

There will be 5-6 homeworks. You can expect one once every 2-3 weeks, due about two weeks later. There will also be a midterm on March 5 in THH 301 from 7:00-8:50pm (during the quiz section), and a final on May 14, 7-9pm (room TBD). Homework will count for 50% of your grade. The midterm will count for 20%, and the final for 30%.

Late Homework Policy: You will be allowed 6 total late days for homework, to be used in integer amounts and distributed over homeworks as you see fit, subject to no more than 3 late days per individual homework. A late day is 24 hours from the original homework deadline, or any part thereof. We reserve the right to not accept any homework which is more than 3 days late, or goes beyond the late day budget.

Collaboration and Academic Integrity Policy: You may discuss informally with other students, but you should not write anything down during discussions. You may not refer to outside sources, on the web or otherwise. Anything that is copied directly from another student or from an outside source counts as cheating. We won't purposely look for cheating, but we will have a zero-tolerance policy if we run across it --- suspected violations of academic integrity will be referred to SJACS without exception.

References

The main textbook will be Essential Discrete Mathematics by Lewis and Zax. A useful secondary reference, for those of you interested, is Discrete Mathematics and its Applications by Kenneth Rosen.